According to the World Resources Institute (WRI) many, if
not most of the world's rivers are stressed. Determining a systems water stress
is based upon measuring the ratio of total water withdrawals to the available
renewable supplies within the catchment area. Rivers are an indispensible
resource for our communities and ecosystems and we are hugely dependent upon
them for agriculture, industry and our natural systems. A stressed river system
can severely threaten regional water security and economic growth, and
potentially contribute to political instability—especially in the absence of an
adequate water-management plan.

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In addition to water volume removal resulting from over
development, rivers are also increasingly faced with nutrient and chemical
pollution, flooding and droughts, and human engineered adjustments further
exacerbating the crisis mounting in our watersheds.

To address the issue, WRI sponsored the Aqueduct project
to evaluate, map and score the world’s one hundred largest river systems
affecting 180 nations. Their project defined a high stress system as one that exhibits
withdrawal of greater than 40 percent of the available supply every year and an
extremely high-stress system exceeds 80 percent. They found that eighteen of
the "extremely high" stressed river basins traversed across countries that
constitute $U.S. 27 trillion in GDP—clearly the crisis is affecting a lot of
people.

Listed by highest population, the river systems exhibiting
the highest water stress levels are as follows:

Qom River (Namak Lake) in Iran, Yongding He River in China, Brantas River in Indonesia, Harirud River in Afghanistan, Tuhai He River in China, Sabarmati River in India, Helmand River in Afghanistan, Sirdaryo River in Asia, Rio Maipo in Chile, the Dead Sea in Jordan, Solo River (Bengawan Solo) in Indonesia, the Indus River in Asia, Daliao He River in China, the Colorado River in the United States, the Palar River in India, the Bravo River (Rio Grande) in the United States, Liao He River in China and Huang He (Yellow River) in China.

River basin stress management is vital for our planet's
future. Yet successful management is dependent upon understanding, cooperation
and proactive cohesive response from all stakeholders including government,
industry and civilians. Using WRI’s maps and assessments communities and
governments can make better high-level decisions for more targeted response.